The new Mangifera cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Tim Thompson, in Camarillo, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Mangifera indica varieties with greater resistance to diseases and cold temperatures. The open pollination resulting in this new variety occurred during 1996.
The seed parent is unknown, as the inventor bulk collected seed as part of an open pollination breeding program consisting of several potential seed and pollen parents, all of which are Mangifera indica varieties. The new variety resulted from seed planted in 1994. The inventor observed the seedlings during several seasons, and made a final selection of ‘302216THOM’ during 2008 at a non-commercial nursery in Camarillo, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was performed by grafting vegetative cuttings onto Mangifera indica ‘Turpentine’ (unpatented). This was first performed at a commercial nursery in Ventura County, Calif. in May of 2013 and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.